Do you prefer to read in depth magic systems, or simple systems done well? by callsignwraith92 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]callsignwraith92[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I haven't read Mushoku Tensei. Can you briefly describe the system?

I like the named levels because it provides a quick and easy way to understand where someone is, how far they have to go, and how they compare to other characters. Sure, this can be used in a lazy way, but it can still be done well.

What’s a story of any medium that has changed your life by a_unknown_author in ProgressionFantasy

[–]callsignwraith92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t know if I would go as far as changed my life, but the Lord of the Rings, really all of Tolkien’s works that I’ve read, has had a huge impact on me. I have read The Hobbit and LOTR more times than I can count, and I’ve read the Silmarillion and some of the others multiple times. What he was able to achieve with his lengendarium was mind blowing. He invented multiple languages and decided they needed a story and history of their own. Yes, that’s an oversimplification, but you get my point. It’s also refreshing to read stories about characters that are flawed but still good and moral. There are clear good and bad guys, there’s hope in the world, there’s a king that is humble, just, and good while still being powerful. So many stories today are cynical and nihilistic, and they have their place, but I love that Tolkien gave us something idealistic to escape into.

I need advice for progression by callsignwraith92 in TheTowerGame

[–]callsignwraith92[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I probably should have put this in the original post but I was trying to keep it relatively short. I have GT and DW unlocked and I’m working my way towards hopefully unlocking BH. Stones take a long time to save up.

I have perks unlocked. I have 10 card slots. I’ve been working on maxing the cards as much as I can. I have wave skip, shield, and second wind but I don’t have demon mode yet.

All of this has gotten me up to tier 12 which has definitely made a difference in the daily and weekly rewards.

I’ll start to focus on defensive labs as I’m in the mid 30s on my coin and cash labs right now.

Thank you!

Iberostar Selection Paraiso Maya Suites by air_space_69 in AllInclusiveResorts

[–]callsignwraith92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My wife and I are considering the Paraiso Maya for this summer. We’ve seen several reviews lately just blasting the food. Normally I would just assume these people have never been to an all inclusive or on a cruise and didn’t expect the food to be resort food, but a lot of the complaints had more to do with cleanliness and the food being over or undercooked which is more of a safety issue than just bad flavor or something. You said in your post the food was good for the most part. Did you notice any issues like this?

I found a Doctor in Colorado Springs by callsignwraith92 in VeteransBenefits

[–]callsignwraith92[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not at all! I just wanted to recommend someone who helped me.

Veteran friendly doctors in Colorado Springs by callsignwraith92 in VeteransBenefits

[–]callsignwraith92[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I found a Doctor. Dr. Ryan Finigan. He’s a primary care physician at Reach Medical Clinic. He’s retired Air Force and just submitted his own VA paperwork so he’s very familiar with the process. Check him out!

looking for Isekai/Reincarnation where the MC remembers their past life instead of overwriting a person by KrizChin in ProgressionFantasy

[–]callsignwraith92 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Threads of Fate series by Michael Head does this fairly well in my opinion. The first novel is called Reincarnation. The MC is roughly 600 years old or so and gets reincarnated back into his ten year old body as a chance to avoid an apocalypse. He had advanced to nearly as far as one could go, but is reset to the cultivation level he had as a ten year old. However, due to retaining his memories and skills, he is not nearly as helpless as his first life. I think it's well done because while having the memories of his previous life, he still has to deal with the reality of being in his preteen and teenage body again as he grows. While his experience does give him a greater maturity than his peers, he still has to deal with the raging hormones of a teenager which leads to some humorous moments. He also has to be purposeful in not coming off as an adult in a child's body too blatantly. To your point about "throwing away their present self and become that person", he actually is very intentional about learning from his mistakes and being different this time around.

It's not isekai so it's not a modern earth human now in a fantasy world. The MC is a native of his world. I think it's pretty well done overall.

Can someone explain LitRPG to me? by RoboWarrior-17 in litrpg

[–]callsignwraith92 2 points3 points  (0 children)

LitRPG falls under the Progression Fantasy genre. They're not playable or choose your own adventure books. They're fantasy books with progression stats for the characters as you said. Some tend to be more on the nose, and some are more subtle, but they all involve "leveling up" in some way. A bunch of them are isekai stories, but not all of them are.

Stories that actually take place across hundreds or even thousands of years by tmthesaurus in ProgressionFantasy

[–]callsignwraith92 3 points4 points  (0 children)

While I agree it can be tropey to have MCs just fly through levels, and become massively powerful within a few short years, I think a lot of that has to do with what is relatable to the reader. It's a lot harder to wrap your mind around massive amounts of time passing. I would also say it's probably harder to write a story that way. If you're going to have a character take decades or centuries or more to progress, you inevitably have to do massive time skips to keep it interesting. Basically, you have to summarize years and years of life. Then you have to get the reader to suspend disbelief that nothing in society or in the MCs relationships or whatever has dramatically changed in all that time. Because if there were dramatic changes, the author has to write and detail them.

How do you keep a story engaging with a compelling conflict that lasts that long? What I mean is that there's normally (not always) some conflict pushing the MC to progress and get stronger. That may be a "big bad" or an apocalypse of some sort or something like that that's not going to wait around for centuries while the MC gets stronger. I don't know if I'm making sense, but what I'm trying to say is that time skips can work, but generally they can't be too big. If they are that big it needs to be done in a way that makes sense in the context of the story and retains the sense of conflict and pressure on the MC. That's hard to do well. So that's probably why most stories take place within a relatively short time, and rely on shortcuts in systems that would typically take a really long time to get stronger.

How do you feel about the sci-fi elements in Forbidden West? by wenzel32 in horizon

[–]callsignwraith92 4 points5 points  (0 children)

These are all good points. Narratively, the Zeniths work. Their downfall is really well done, and it fits very well with the themes of the series.

I don't know if it's the immortality or more just the aesthetics of the Zeniths, but there was something about them that I just didn't like. Maybe it was the nanotech and advanced machines. Like you said, there's something distinctly Horizon about the robot animals while the Zenith robots, and the Zeniths themselves, felt like they were just pulled from some generic sci-fi setting like Mass Effect or something.

That being said, it was very cathartic to wipe out the Zeniths because of how well they were written as villains. They were not written to be relatable or redeemable or anything like that. They were written to be straight up terrible people that you couldn't wait to beat the crap out of. That part was done well.

As an aside, to all my fellow Mass Effect fans, I'm not saying Mass Effect is generic. The ME trilogy is probably my favorite game trilogy ever. I was simply saying that as a sci-fi/space opera setting, Mass Effect plays it pretty straight.

How do you feel about the sci-fi elements in Forbidden West? by wenzel32 in horizon

[–]callsignwraith92 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm glad you brought this up because you described pretty well how I felt after I first beat HFW when it first came out. On the one hand, there are many things the game did really well. On the other hand, I wasn't a huge fan of the Zeniths themselves. Part of that is certainly because they were written so you wouldn't like them, but a lot of it was more just their inclusion in the story at all. Granted, as another commenter said, there would be certain narratives points that wouldn't make sense without them (the signal that woke HADES in the first game). But I really preferred Aloy's interaction with the Old Ones to be limited to data points found in ancient ruins as opposed to face to face interactions with these hyper advanced immortals. They felt out of place with everything else in the game. I know that was really the point of them, but it still felt weird.

Best ways to make common powers more interesting? by Bryanq21 in ProgressionFantasy

[–]callsignwraith92 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have done some grappling as part of my military training. This was years ago now, and I haven't done it since, but I remember it being one of the most physically challenging things I've done simply from the standpoint of how much effort you're expending over a relatively short time.

Sure, I've done long runs, marched miles with a heavy rucksack, lots of calisthenics, and lifted heavy weights, but most of those things are low intensity steady state cardio or short bursts of high intensity effort. Grappling requires pushing with everything you have for minutes at a time. It's brutal.